At least five people were injured and one suspect killed in a shooting in a popular nightlife area in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening.
The suspect shot pedestrians on Dizengoff Avenue in the city center before he was “neutralised by officers”, Israeli police said.
Three people were killed in a shooting on the same street in 2022 and police said they are treating the current incident as “a terrorist attack”.
“We evacuated the three with gunshot wounds, one of them in critical condition, one seriously wounded and one slightly wounded,” Magen David Adom director Eli Bin told Israel’s Kan TV.
It is still unclear who was behind the attack and police have said they are investigating possible motives.
Hamas issued a statement shortly after the incident, saying the shooting was in response to the killing of three Palestinians earlier in the day in the occupied West Bank, The New Arab’s Arabic-language service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, reported.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai urged residents to return to their homes, Haaretz reported, and many were still on the streets after protests against a planned judicial review closed key highways on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on an official visit to Rome, in a short televised speech wished “a speedy recovery to the injured”.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the suspect a “terrorist”.
“A serious attack in Tel Aviv…. I congratulate the police officer who, in an act of bravery, eliminated the heinous terrorist and saved many lives,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement.
It follows a string of bloody Israeli incursions into the occupied West Bank this week, killing six Palestinians in Jenin on Wednesday and shooting three dead in Khaba on Thursday.
Sufyan Fakhoury, 26, Ahmed Fashafsha, 22, and Nayef Malaysha, 25, were shot dead Thursday morning in Khaba, two of whom Israel claims were part of Palestinian Islamic Jihad without providing any evidence.
At least 68 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and settlers in 2023, including 14 children, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says.
On February 26, Jewish settlers destroyed the Palestinian town of Hawara, setting houses and cars on fire and killing one Palestinian after two settlers died.
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